Health spending pushed 55 million Indians into poverty in a year

About 55 million Indians were pushed into poverty in a single year because of having to fund their own healthcare and 38 million of them fell below the poverty line due to spending on medicines alone, a study by three experts from the Public Health Foundation of India has estimated.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, reveals that non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart diseases and diabetes account for the largest chunk of spending by households on health. The study concluded that among non-communicable diseases, cancer had the highest probability of resulting in “catastrophic expenditure” for a household.

Health expenditure is considered to be catastrophic if it constitutes 10% or more of overall consumption expenditure of a household.

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